“Oh!” cried Janice. “Was ever
maid born under such a ha’penny planet?”

“Don’t make outcry ’gainst your
star when it has sent ye a lover in the nick of time,
ready to save ye from the bumpkin.”

Janice took a shy come-and-go glance at him and said:
“You mean

“What say ye to an elopement?”

“Oh!” exclaimed the girl, meeting Evatt’s
gaze eagerly. “’T would be monstrous
delightsome to be run off with, of course; but—­”

“But what?”

“Well—­I—­Mommy told me
that in the province no maid could be lawfully wed
without her parents’ consent.”

“True,” assented the tempter, “if
she wed where the colony law holds good. But
we’ll get round that by having the knot tied
on royal ground.”

“Not in England?” said the girl, drawing
back a little.

“Think ye I’d treat the lass I love like
that?” responded Evatt, reproachfully.
“Nay. A friend of mine is chaplain on the
‘Asia’ man-of-war, and he’ll make
no bones about helping us. And as the king’s
flag and broad arrow puts the ship out of the colony
jurisdiction, ’t will make the thing legal despite
the law.”

[Illustration: “Here’s to the prettiest
damsel!”]

“How romantic!” exclaimed Janice.
“To think of making a stolen match, and of being
wed on a king’s ship!”

“Now dost want to rail at thy star?”

“’T is great good fortune,” ecstatically
sighed the girl. “Think you ’t would
be right?”

“Would I ask it if ’t were not?”
rejoined Evatt, heartily.

“But dadda and mommy—­” began
the falterer.

“Will be pleased enough when the job’s
done. Think ye, if they were n’t bound
they ’d not rather have a titled son-in-law
than that gawk?”

Janice sprang to her feet. “And I’ve
spoke to you as if you were just—­just a
man,” she cried in a horrified voice.

“’T was not fair so to beguile me!”

Evatt looked at the ground to hide the smile he could
not suppress. “’T was done for the king,
Janice,” he said. “And ’t is
all the more romantic that I’ve won ye without
your knowing. Sit down again; if ’t were
not in view of the house I should be kneeling to ye.”